APA Study Shows Irresponsible Media Coverage Doubles Mass Shootings

U.S.A. -(Ammoland.com)- A paper presented to the American Psychological Association found the number of mass killings, rampage killings or “mass shootings”, may be doubled by irresponsible media aggrandizement of mass killers. The desire for fame was found to be one of the main motivators of these rampage killers. From apa.org:

“Unfortunately, we find that a cross-cutting trait among many profiles of mass shooters is desire for fame,” she said. This quest for fame among mass shooters skyrocketed since the mid-1990s “in correspondence to the emergence of widespread 24-hour news coverage on cable news programs, and the rise of the internet during the same period.”

She cited several media contagion models, most notably one proposed by Towers et al. (2015), which found the rate of mass shootings has escalated to an average of one every 12.5 days, and one school shooting on average every 31.6 days, compared to a pre-2000 level of about three events per year. “A possibility is that news of shooting is spread through social media in addition to mass media,” she said.

“If the mass media and social media enthusiasts make a pact to no longer share, reproduce or retweet the names, faces, detailed histories or long-winded statements of killers, we could see a dramatic reduction in mass shootings in one to two years,” she said. “Even conservatively, if the calculations of contagion modelers are correct, we should see at least a one-third reduction in shootings if the contagion is removed.”

She said this approach could be adopted in much the same way as the media stopped reporting celebrity suicides in the mid-1990s after it was corroborated that suicide was contagious. Johnston noted that there was “a clear decline” in suicide by 1997, a couple of years after the Centers for Disease Control convened a working group of suicidologists, researchers and the media, and then made recommendations to the media.

“The media has come together before to work for good, to incite social change,” she said. “They have done, and they can do it. It is time. It is enough.”

Media personalities such as Don Lemon often decry these rampage murder events and claim more restrictions on guns are needed. But the latest rampage murder in California took place in a polity where the restrictions were already in place. Those restrictions failed.

The FBI found 8% of active shooter attacks during 2014-17 were stopped or mitigated by concealed handgun permit holders. John Lott reports the FBI only recorded half of the cases where armed citizens stopped mass killers during that period.

Don Lemon, of CNN, is part of the problem. By aggrandizing rampage killings, he is, in effect, promoting more of them. He could reduce rampage killings by calling for restraint on the part of the media.

The media benefits from rampage killings. They obtain ratings and money for aggrandizing rampage killing and rampage killers. They satisfy their political desires by calling for more restrictions on law-abiding gun owners, even though the evidence shows those restrictions are not effective in stopping rampage killers.

Will Don Lemon and other media outlets work to reduce rampage killers by toning down the rhetoric? It seems unlikely. Reducing the killing is not to their financial advantage.

About Dean Weingarten:

Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of constitutional carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and recently retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.

Every damn walking dildo MSM newscaster should be held to answer for this. We can start with CNN and Don “Lemon Head” Lemon. These guys are thousand times more responsible than ANYTHING the NRA has done.

People need to understand that the leftists and gun banners WANT these shootings, that is why they cover them non stop. They want to plan that idea in the next crazy person’s mind. That and there are shadowy groups out there that seek out mentally ill people and push them over the edge into committing these mass shootings.. I mean really whenever the “need” a shooting it pops up? Who are they kidding

lemon is a total jerkoff,he will never stop doing anything that is giving him a ratings boost. all these azz hole shooters are all looking for their 15 minutes of fame,stop giving it to them and hopefully they’ll just go away.

Anything goes on commie news network. Lemon even says the white male is the problem to the rest of society. Someone should linch the little rat turd and show him we have the power to shut his racist mouth. He and that bald guy with no chin are a pair to draw to. It must really suck to be part of an organization like commie news network, bottom of the barrel.

@tomcat I don’t usually attack the speaker, but you sir (presumptively), are a moron. It is words like yours that stack the deck for those who would limit our rights. Additionally, what you said is something that may be considered a credible threat and land you on the other side of the bars. (And I don’t mean the ones with Colorado Kool Aid). Do you employ a subnet mask on your IP address? One, two, 25? No? Don’t worry, I am sure the govt already knows about you.

@ Clifffalling You usually do not win many friends or influence many people by starting a conversation by saying “you are a moron’. I have no idea what I have said to offend you so much unless Lemon is your idle. Anyway I wanted you to know that by your comment to me I think you are an asshat. I am a veteran and a constitutional conservative. What are you other than being a rude dude that can’t read or decipher what someone else says.

Indeed. By all means, keep it up. You are almost endearing in your childlike tantrums. Except that it is folks like you making the argument for the Left. I often wonder if posts like yours are real, or plants from the opposition. Because your comments and sentiment are what is helping us to lose our rights.

Gentlemen, There is much patriotic work to do, and we have much to loose if we can not get along. I don’t see a need to judge a person’s entire body of writing by a little hyperbole, nor digress into insulting each other. If one wishes to practice the art of the insult, and have fun doing that, there are many fine, and worthy, trolls visiting here.

Why you ask? Because, it’s people like you, threatening to kill folks or other such nasty things, in writing or on Facebook or whatever that I find myself having to defend to the antis that surround me. People like you just don’t get it. Bill , I understand your sentiment and appreciate it, but we’ll never win through aggression like Tomcat espouses. We’ll always be the bad guy.

In addition to furthering the agenda, they are able to sell ad space and air time. We forget sometimes that they are businesses designed to make money, not simply public servants broadcasting news. Remember the non stop coverage of the missing airliner? It was 24/7 for weeks, that’s pretty boring stuff compared to blood in the streets. Which story will get the bigger ad revenue? Speaking of boring subjects, how much airtime will this story garner?

The study proves that it’s about the person, not the tool use to commit the murders. It’s the rat turds on MSM and social media glorifying these killers by giving them a roadmap to the fame they seek. There seems to be no end to this. We should be glorifying the people that save lives and stop rampage killings and leave the killers to rot in obscurity.

Carlton, police are even known to shoot each other in these types situations. Lack of, or poor, police training does not invalidate what Jim posted.

The biggest difference here is that if it was a civilian that shot the guard, the civilian would not be on paid administrative leave until the police finished investigating. Police need to be treated just like the civilians that they are, they should not get immunity or the “benefit of the doubt” in cases such as these. It is obvious what happened.